Fun in the sun

On Wednesday the kids had a great time with this crazy water dancer sprinkler we had. The loved being on the trampoline with it spraying them all over!!

Kate got some early morning wading pool fun in before we had to go. She said it was REALLY cold, but she had a lot of fun. Grandpa went to LOTS of work to set it up for her and she was so excited to play in it!


Bubbles are always a hit!

Tuesday morning in the paddle boat with Grandma and Grandpa. The kids went in their pajamas so they could have a quick ride before we took Luke to the doctor. The picture is foggy because my lens fogged up when I opened the camera. It was SO humid outside! It rained so hard later on that day that it knocked the power out at the lake cabin.
Here is Luke at Caddo Lake with Grandma and Grandpa Todd. Luke kept bringing me those leaves (like the one in his hand) and saying, "Look! A starfish!" Poor little guy. . . he REALLY thought they were starfish. This was a pre-sick picture. He finally succumbed to all of the illness we have uncharacteristically had in our house lately and got REALLY sick on Tuesday morning. We had to cut the lake trip short to take him to the doctor where he had to have an antibiotic shot (because he woke up Tuesday morning with his eye swollen shut and it wasn't even swollen the night before. It was a pretty aggressive infection), blood drawn, then be seen the next day and placed on oral augmentin. Poor kid. . . it was a rough couple of days for him!

It has been a while since I've posted. I've been trying to spend every spare kid-free moment I have finishing up projects before Randy comes home. It's finally seeming like a reality!!! If all goes well, we only have 3 weeks left until he's home! We will be entertained by Berta, Cat, and Sarah coming to visit, which we are SO excited for! I have a short list of projects I still want to finish. Our days have been spent enjoying summer! The pools on base are open, and we have been trying to spend time there. I really was missing Randy today at the pool though, because it's the first Friday of the summer for us. Fridays are always a big deal in our house, because it's date night, and kicks off the weekend. Randy always has tried to go to the pool as much as possible with us, so it was kind of a double whammy to have him gone. We have a busy month planned for after he is home. We are going to College Station (basically as soon as he gets home!) and dropping Kate and Luke off with Grandma and Grandpa, then Randy and I are headed on a cruise for a week! When we get home from that, we're picking up the kids and heading to Sea World. Then back to Grandma and Grandpa's for the 4th of July and fireworks at their house and the big show at the George Bush library. After that, we're off to Corpus Cristi to take the kids to the beach. Once that's done, we'll FINALLY be back home together as a family. Then Randy will have to go back to work, and it will be back to life as usual. I know the vacations will be TONS of fun, but I'm pretty anxious for the normal life with Dad around. I'm off to work on a project some more. I'm working on curtains for Luke's room. I have the hardware all hung (hurray!! I HATE hanging anything in the walls in this house-- they're plaster and just crumble EVERYWHERE!!!), I just have to cut the curtain rods to the correct size (with a hacksaw, it takes forever!).

Here is Kate playing with "little tiny baby Kaitlyn" as Kate calls her. We had another friend named Katelyn that we call baby Katelyn, so Kate all by herself started calling this Kaitlyn, little tiny baby Kaitlyn. She LOVES babies. If she ever gets any younger siblings, I'm sure she will be a HUGE help with them!
Kate getting a haircut! She was so excited to have it done!
We had a great time having a picnic in our back yard. It's amazing how fun it can be to just throw a blanket down and take lunch outside! I forgot the after pictures for Kate's haircut, so here is one!Everyone was SO messy (including me after Luke was climbing all over me) after watermelon, PB & J's, and chocolate chip cookies (the chocolate chips were TOTALLY melted), but we sure had fun!!


Kate tells everyone that we have a pirate ship at our house. She is sure that the fort in our swing set is a pirate ship, because her dad put a steering wheel in it.

Luke would swing all day long if I was willing to push him. I've never seen a kid who loved swinging so much!

Cleaning day!

Today I was near a mental breakdown, so my friend took my kids for most of the day and I did nothing but CLEANED!!!! I cleaned from 8pm until 1am last night, too. Needless to say, my back aches and I have blisters on my hands from cleaning so much. . . but my house sure sparkles!!! I'm going to bed early tonight because I haven't been to bed before 1am in a week. Sigh. . . I want my husband home!!! Even though I haven't been running all week, I've still been burning my calories by cleaning!

Kate was SO excited because she got a hair cut tonight. She has been begging me to cut her hair for a long time (it was in the middle/lower 1/3 of her back). I had thrown away my hair scissors because they were cheap and old. She sees me cut Luke's hair and Randy's hair, but where is her haircut? So I bought some new scissors yesterday, and she was SO excited to have her turn. It even helped get some obedience out of her!! My kids are definitely suffering from all of my projects and my lack of sleep. With that, I'm off to bed!

Carousel

I know that I already posted today, but we had a GREAT time at the Boardwalk, and found some FUN sales!! I had to post the funniest thing that Kate said. She was standing on a stool in the kitchen washing her hands. I left for a second then came back and she had her head in the cupboard under the kitchen sink. I asked her what she was doing, and she said, "Where does the water go? Does it go into the garbage can?" I did my best not to laugh, and showed her the pipes and that they take the water outside, under our house, then under the ground. She was content with that and went along her way. It reminded me from the scene in "Enchanted" where Giselle asks about where the water in the shower comes from. That just happens to be Kate's favorite movie. . . so I wouldn't be surprised if that's where the idea came from. Either way, it was still REALLY funny.

There is a fun carousel at the Boardwalk, and Kate was being a cowgirl like Jessie, saying "YEE HAW!"


Luke was ready for a nap at this point. . .

What a week. . .

Luke loves cameras. He always says "Say click, CHEESE!" (He loves Click the camera from Diego)


Luke is really certain that Backpack and Map are his two bes friends from Dora. I think it's quite funny. This makes it sound like my kids are obsessed with the TV, which they love watching, but don't get to that often. I try to reserve it for the car. They are AWESOME in the car. Thank goodness for DVD players in the ceiling. I had the kids carseats in Randy's car the other day, and Luke was MAD! He was screaming "MOVIE! A MOVIE!" the whole 2 minutes we were driving.


Having a pajama morning on a Monday morning while Mom catches up from our last couple of weeks.

We had SO much fun with Grandma Thomason here last weekend, but we didn't get any pictures of her with the kids!!! I am SO sad about that!!! I feel like I was gone all weekend!! I went to the temple with the youth in our ward. It was a very fun experience!!! I was missing Randy a TON while we were at the temple. I was one of the only adults there without my spouse!!


Unfortunately, Kate got sick over the weekend, and so did I! I haven't been so sick in SUCH a long time. It was a good thing Grandma was here to take care of us! I took Kate to the doctor and she had a double ear infection and possible pneumonia. Great! But there was a chance it was viral, so I didn't want her on an anti-biotic. The doctor would only agree if I would get her back in two days later to have her ears rechecked and lungs re-listened to. Whatever virus we had hit me so fast. I had a sore throat, and within about 20 minutes of realizing that I had a sore throat (yes, realizing it. It's amazing as moms how little we stop and think, oh wait, my throat hurts) I was laying in the middle of my kitchen floor feeling like I was going to DIE! I crawled into the living room and laid on the floor. Kate brought us pillows and laid by me because she was sick, too. Luke just thought he needed to lay down because Kate and I were. Fortunately, he has stayed healthy through this whole ordeal. That night, two great friends came and gave Kate and I blessings. I needed to be healthy to take Grandma to the airport in Dallas the next day! During the night, Kate woke up complaining about her ears and Grandma helped her get in bed next to me. I knew I was burning up, and couldn't tell if she was. I had Grandma get the thermometer and I had a 104.6 fever. I didn't ever really find out what Kate's was, because my thermometer was being weird. I probably broke it I was so hot! Anyways, my fever broke and I haven't had one since and everything went REALLY well driving to and from Dallas.
On to the next ordeal of the week. I didn't go to mutual the night I took Grandma to the airport because I wasn't up to it, and I didn't want to leave Kate with her still feeling sick. I am SO glad I didn't go!!! We had 6 inches of rain in less than two hours that night!! In a 12 hour period we got 13 inches. EVERYTHING was flooding! Flash floods, slow floods. . . . . Randy's car was parked across the street from our house in front of another friend's house. She called me at about 9:30 that night and said, "Um, your husband's car us under about 3 feet of water. You might want to move it!" Well, I learned my lesson about moving cars in flooded water LAST spring when our last house had a flood in front of it and I moved my van out of it. Randy got really mad at me, but fortunately nothing happened to the van. This time I just left his car where it was and knew I just had to wait for the flood to go down. The next morning, I went out to a flooded car. It wasn't too bad, there was about 3 inches of standing water on the floor of the car. We have some friends who just moved into our old house and their car wouldn't even start (parked in the same place that my van was when I moved it during a flood and got in trouble). They had water up past their seats in their car! Needless to say, the insurance adjuster came to look at it and totaled their car. Randy's still drives, so I drove it to the dealership and it is being stripped down right now. The insurance adjuster is going there today to check it out. After all that car has been through. . . . goodness. I took pictures, but stupid me, not until AFTER we'd bailed all the water out of it. Hopefully it won't stink forever!!!

This last weekend Randy's parents came for the day in Saturday. They got here in the middle of the night Friday night and were here when the kids woke up in the morning. I didn't tell Kate they were coming, and she was SO excited to hear Grandma Todd's voice when she was walking down the stairs in the morning. It was SO nice to have them here!! They played with the kids ALL day while I finished painting Luke's room and did stuff around the house. I put Grandpa to work doing all sorts of things around the house. It was nice to have a guy here! I've been doing all those things by myself, but Grandpa was very handy to have around!!! They will be back next weekend to play with us again, then we're all going to the lake for Memorial Day and a few days after. It should be a fun weekend!!

We are counting down the days until Randy comes home!!! The problem is, we still don't know exactly when that is yet!!! We have lots of entertainment between now and then, with the lake next weekend and Berta, Cat, and Sarah coming to visit us. The time hopefully will go by quickly!!!! I have lots of projects I want to finish before Randy comes home. Fortunately, I'm narrowing the list down! I basically just have to sew curtains for Luke's room (he just has ugly white blackout shades right now), and finish painting my dining room. Everything is under plastic in there right now. My kids are eating at their little table that is normally in our upstairs playroom. They think it's great, I'm ready to have my dining room back. It takes FOREVER to paint it!!!! Our house has the thickest, biggest texture I've EVER seen!!! It takes SOOOOOO long to get down into all of the crevices, especially with the dark brown I'm painting in my dining room. It has ten foot ceilings, crown molding, two arched doorways (completely lined with molding), a set of French doors, and don't forget all of the baseboards!! I'm painting without taping, which I think will end up being faster in the long run. The room is gigantic as it is. . . but hopefully I can have it finished by tonight after the kids go to bed. I've decided to do all of the edge/baseboard work first, then just go to town with a roller. I painted last night (Sunday night) because my kids were both asleep by 7pm. I justified it by turning a couple of conference sessions on in the living room and listening to those. I know, I'm evil, I still hadn't finished listening to conference yet. I'll post pictures when I'm ALL done decorating the house (do you ever get all done with a house like this?!?!?!?!?!) I'm having a great time doing it. Randy just isn't thrilled to have to prime all of the painted walls before we leave. Oh well, I did the hard part, we can prime them together. :)

That updates everyone on our last couple of weeks!!! We're off to the Boardwalk for some .99 sales at Children's Place and to get Kate some new church shoes!

Biased Mama

I know I'm completely biased, but my children blow me away on a daily basis with how smart they are and how much they comprehend. My kids both fall asleep every night to a CD that is primary songs made into lullabies. It's really a sweet CD. Luke was singing the first song to me tonight, then continued to hum the melody perfectly during an instrumental part. I just thought, wow. He really loves music!!! He started dancing before he could sit up. Kate is always making up new songs and telling me about the songs she learns in nursery on Sundays.

Those who know Luke know how much he LOVES shapes, especially stars!!! He is also getting into the moon. Anything that is a semi-circle, he brings to me and says, "Look! It's a moon!" Once again, I know I'm biased, but I think he's pretty smart. :)

I'm off to bed. There is a new family moving into our old house (in our back yard), and they're LDS! We're so excited! To top it off, he is here to be a co-pilot, and they have a baby girl named Kaitlyn. Kate loves her already. She was at our house a lot of the day today while her parents were working with the movers. Kate was begging to see Baby Kaitlyn the second she left, until they came back to eat dinner with us. We need a baby in our house! Luke could use someone who wouldn't let him rule the roost, and Kate would be such a little mother to a baby. It just hope it can happen!!! After having a miscarriage right after Randy left, I'm feeling a little frustrated about the whole baby thing! I think Heavenly Father knew that it wouldn't be the best thing for me to be pregnant and have my husband on the other side of the world!

So here's to smart, cute kids! They're the best!!!

Sanity on Sunday. . .?!

Kate and Luke (with a newly buzzed head!)

Something is wrong with my camera, and I'm not quite sure what, but it won't focus. So, sadly enough, the cutest pictures from before church today are not even remotely in focus. Here is the best one I could come up with.

Does anyone have a secret for sanity on Sundays? Our church is at 12:30pm, right in the middle of nap time. . . I used to be able to trick Luke into taking a nap early on Sunday mornings (a nice warm bath at about 9:30am, big full bottle. . .he was a gonner), now he just plays in his bed until I cave and go get him, or until it's time to get ready for church. He has NEVER had separation anxiety until Randy left. He was the easiest kid EVER! He knew we would be back and never worried about it. Oh no. . . not now. He SCREAMS his head off in nursery until he falls asleep every week. One of the nursery workers walked him until he fell asleep, then she laid him down on the floor next to her, where he proceeded to take an hour nap today. That sounds awful-- the hard floor of the church. Poor baby. I felt so bad for him. Then my poor kids had to play at a friend's house for almost 3 1/2 hours tonight while I was at our standards fireside. Thank goodness that is over with. My poor kids are left way too often!! That was the 4th night this week that I've left them!!!!! They need their dad back. . .

I hope everyone has a great week up ahead. We are SO excited for Grandma Thomason to come visit us and see our new house!! Kate keeps telling me all the things she is going to tell Grandma when she is here. I'm sure Grandma is going to get her ear talked off then entire way home from the airport in Dallas (3 hours!).

Saturdays and sand

I love watching those cute little bodies dig in the sand!



Luke is very sure that he can run as fast as Rogue.



We are fortunate enough to have a fun sand park just outside of our kitchen door (maybe 25 feet away). It has a playset on it, but my kids really only care about digging in the sand. We have a laundry basket full of sand toys that just stays outside under our gazebo. Our friends come over and play there with us quite often. It's really a lot of fun for the kids. We have been going out there to play more often than in our own backyard with our playset and trampoline. Today Luke decided that he would start throwing the sand. Fortunately, we've gotten away without him thinking that up (I knew it was only a matter of time). So, thank goodness we do baths every night before bed. We have enjoyed having a wonderfully mild spring this year!! There are flowers blooming ALL around our house (I can't decide of they're lilacs or jasmine) and they smell SO good!! I have been cutting some every few days and putting them in vases around my house. They make my entire house smell so yummy and springy!! I hope they stay blooming until Grandma Thomason gets here at the end of the week!

Luke got a major haircut tonight before his bath. Stay tuned for pictures tomorrow from before church (hopefully we'll be ready on time that I can stop and take a few!!). He looks so grown up with shorter hair again. He looks a lot like his cousin Kohl to me when he has short hair. It loses a lot of its red with this length!!!

Kate is begging for her hair to get cut, but I think that I'm going to take her somewhere to have it done. It is SOOO long, and I wouldn't mind having something cute done with it.

I'm off to more sewing projects. Enjoy the pictures!!

Bombs and kids

So, Randy decided that there was a island in the Pacific that needed to be aware of our kids' names. He wrote our kids names on one of the bombs he was dropping on his sortie yesterday.
Randy on the ladder under his jet (I know, self-explanatory)
Our kids' names on a bomb. An interesting thing. . . . .


Luke throwing a fit because he still had his paci after his nap, but was absolutely positive he needed to swing AND have his paci. . . Some fights I'm not willing to make while Randy is on the other side of the world.

Kate is already learning that with our white skin, it takes a LONG time to get any color on our legs. She loves laying in the sun.


We just got home from going to lunch with a group of friends. We each had either one or two kids with us. What a zoo. We decided that instead of the smoking section of some restaurants, there should be the kid section in restaurants. We were getting some nasty looks from people, and all of the kids were being really good!!! It just took over 45 minutes for our food to come out after we had ordered, then two of our orders were wrong once the food finally got there!!!

Here's to insanity and trying to do something grown up and dragging your kids along with you!!